


will that be all?

by PenelopeJadewing



Series: fictober 2018 [4]
Category: Naruto, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Gen, Mentioned Bakugou Katsuki, Mentioned Midoriya Izuku, Pre-Training Camp Arc, Shigaraki-centric, Tomura is a bit of a fanboy, Vanguard Action Squad Prep, Villain Fluff really, i like to think he's actually started to get attached to his motley crew, musings of the main antagonist, please, somebody save Itachi though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-04
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-07-25 04:38:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16190249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PenelopeJadewing/pseuds/PenelopeJadewing
Summary: Shigaraki Tomura muses over who to put on the Vanguard Action Squad. He's a little distracted when Muscular picks a fight with their most impressive member, Uchiha Itachi.





	will that be all?

Tomura’s beginning to get used to having a party around.

It’s not nearly as annoying as he thought it would be. The base is always active, with the bar serving as some kind of central social area, and the apartments upstairs housing at least three of their members—which keep growing by the day, he’s told. He still has final say on who joins and who does not, but he’s entrusted most of the recruitment process to Kurogiri, whom he trusts to keep a level head about it.

So far, Kurogiri’s judgment has proved fairly satisfactory. There are a few he squints at though.

That shark guy—Hoshigaki Kisame. Tomura can’t help but wonder why he’s here. He doesn’t seem to have any convictions about him, and has said on multiple occasions that he’s only here for the entertainment—and the pay, when he can get it.

Muscular (who took a note from that a**hole Dabi and refused to give them his real name) is in much the same boat, except he claims he’s just here because he likes killing people. Tomura can relate on some level, but he’s moved beyond childish notions like that, ever since his conversation with Midoriya Izuku just two days ago. Besides… there’s something about the loud, foul-mouthed psychopath that’s beginning to rub Tomura the wrong way. Hoshigaki is much better in those aspects. He’s got a sense of dignity. He’s somewhat reserved, most of the time. Keeps to himself.

Nowhere near Uchiha Itachi though. That guy is the walking equivalent of an impenetrable boss-level dungeon, cold and imposing and locked to any players who think they can just walkz in and take whatever information they want.

Which makes Tomura feel a little special, if he’s honest. Out of all of them, he and Kurogiri are the only people who know the real reason why Uchiha is here.

Tomura has never felt such a sense of… peerage, as when he heard that story. It’s like something out of the campaign mode of his favorite action-adventure video game. It’s also the closest he’s ever come to believing decent people exist outside the Master.

He glances across the bar, to the wall where at one point, booths probably nestled. Standing in a cluster by the wall, seeing as there’s no other option, the subject of his musings leans casually against the brick, dressed in his usual suit sans jacket. He and Kurogiri have this thing going on, playing the ever-classic sophisticated villains. If anyone can pull it off, it’s them though. Besides Uchiha, Muscular and Dabi surround him on either side. If they had decent places to sit, Tomura could just imagine them huddling in a booth, talking in low voices. Like a scene from a movie. They really ought to invest in more furniture… but no, then the place might look lived in and that would be a problem.

Sounds like Muscular’s doing most of the talking. Though that could just be because the guy seems incapable of being quiet.

“Beating up Hero students sounds fun,” the massive blond is saying, wolfish grin twisting his face to unsettling proportions. “I know of at least two in that batch I’d like to give a nice beat down.”

“It’s not supposed to be fun,” Dabi interjects, monotonous as usual. “We have an objective.”

If there’s one thing Tomura can appreciate about Dabi, it’s his conviction.

Muscular just laughs. “Lighten up, Dabi. We can have fun and accomplish the objective. It is possible, you know.”

“Oh, I know. I just don’t trust you to do both at the same time. You’re too easy to distract when you rampage.”

“Hey, that was one time!”

“One time that made local news.”

“Making headlines is a perk! It makes people scared of me.” Muscular puffs up, rising to his full height of 6’4”. Stupid giants, him and Hoshigaki… “Uchiha knows that more than any of us, eh?”

When Muscular nudges Uchiha with a beefy elbow, Uchiha doesn’t react beyond shooting him the lightest of glares for the invasion of personal space. Safely hidden behind Father’s hand, Tomura smirks. He really does like Uchiha Itachi.

“Is the news the only reason why people are scared of you?” Uchiha says, without much inflection at all. He’s all reserved poise and gentle words. When Tomura knows full well what he’s capable of, it’s outright terrifying to watch. If he were to compare Muscular to a gorilla, Uchiha would be a panther. It’s like all the dignity and finesse Muscular might’ve had was siphoned and given to Uchiha as a double portion instead.

Muscular, to his credit, contains his outburst to a simple snarl. “Course not! Look at me, I walk down the street and people cross to the other side just to avoid passing me.”

“That just means you’re obvious.” Uchiha leans his head back against the wall and closes his eyes. “Which is the last thing you want to be when you’re part of a covert operation aiming to bring Hero society crashing down from the ground up.”

Muscular’s eye twitches. “Listen here, you little s***—”

“You need to rein in,” Uchiha continues. “Control yourself. You’re capable, regardless of however you’ve been otherwise convinced. Real power is not being the strongest piece on the board. It’s not even the player controlling one side. Real power is the person manipulating every move from the sidelines because they know both players on a personal level. This grants the ability to predict every play before it happens.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? I don’t speak Cryptic,” Muscular spits.

“It means that every move you make should be deliberate.” Uchiha opens his eyes. They’re glowing red, leveled at Muscular’s face. Tomura leans forward in his seat. “Purposeful. Thought out, counter-argued and then reinforced so that not a single effort is wasted. Everything matters. Every word, every twitch, every breath. To waste is to lose.”

Muscular’s effectively entranced now. Uchiha’s snagged him with his Quirk, and Tomura is incredibly curious as to what he’s made Muscular see.

On another hand, he himself takes Uchiha’s speech to heart, mulling over the words. After all, he still has to decide on the members of the Vanguard Action Squad… the ones he’ll be sending after that unruly child from the UA sports festival.

Muscular is… unhinged. Difficult to tame. He’s big enough to pose a threat and mean enough to be fully aware of that fact and use it as an excuse to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. He’s a brute, through and through, lacking any and all refinement. Kinda like their target. Putting him on the team would be a gamble at best.

Dabi’s a bit easier to trust with responsibility, but he’s also a lone wolf by nature. He only deals with the other members because he has no choice. He keeps people at arm’s length and he’s informal to the point of insult. Still. Tomura has already been considering putting him on the Squad, and he hasn’t come up with any reason not to yet.

Then there’s Uchiha… If ever the League had a star player, along with Tomura himself, Kurogiri, and the Master, Uchiha would be it. His Quirk is incredible, as are his reflexes and his sense of judgment and battle prowess. Theirs is a game he’s been playing since he was thirteen. He’s a Pro, a Pro Villain, and any battlefield he’s on is sure to lurch in favor of victory. That’s to say nothing of the sheer amount of presence he brings, and his reputation as a cold-blooded killer. Even other members of the League hesitate to act out against Uchiha Itachi.

What an asset he’d be to the Squad…

Uchiha must break his hold rather quickly, since not ten seconds pass before Muscular bursts out in a fit of profanity. He grabs a fistful of Uchiha’s collar and drags him close, like he wants to be nose-to-nose before saying whatever it is he has to say in response to the smaller man’s tactics. Dabi intervenes, clenching a hand over Muscular’s arm in a move that makes the air go still.

“You need to calm down,” Dabi says, his grip firm. Tomura can feel the implication strongly enough, there’s no way even a blockhead like Muscular could miss it. After all, everyone here knows Dabi’s Quirk is strongest at his hands.

To his credit, Muscular clenches his jaw and releases Uchiha with a derisive shove. Uchiha stumbles the slightest bit, steadying himself against the wall before he straightens to smooth the wrinkles from his shirt. The picture of elegance. As if nothing can faze him. This seems to stir Muscular’s ire even more, but he doesn’t say anything. Then again, if he were to speak, he’d just be proving Uchiha’s point. Thus, this demonstration of control is the closest Muscular can get to defiance.

Uchiha’s lips curl at one corner, a knowing smirk. Then he slips between the other two men and approaches the bar with long strides.

Tomura turns away to pretend he hadn’t been watching, even though it’s likely Uchiha was aware of his attention even before the whole argument started.

Kurogiri, who’s been cleaning glasses behind the counter—why hide out in a bar without a few drinks to enjoy?—steps over when Uchiha takes a seat on a barstool two places over from Tomura. The raven-haired man quietly requests a glass of that chardonnay they managed to get a hold of last week. Kurogiri mutters an ‘of course’ and sets about serving him. Tomura watches in silence.

Now that he’s sitting, Uchiha’s posture changes. Tomura notes that neither Muscular or Dabi are watching, having fallen into hushed whispers from their place still against the wall, and maybe that contributes to it; but Uchiha’s back curls in, his elbows brace on the counter, and he bows his head for a grand total of three seconds. Not much. But more than usual.

Tomura can’t help but wonder just how sick he is.

No, despite sharing the how’s and why’s that brought him to be branded as a Villain and forced to find refuge with the League, Uchiha has never opened up about whatever’s ailing him physically. Whether it’s pride or privacy, Tomura’s not sure but he’s no fool. Uchiha grows more haggard by the day. The stress lines on his face are ever deepening, his vision and stamina are suffering. Granted, that just means Uchiha’s getting closer to normal standards day by day, but that’s still something to be concerned over. By the amount of medication he’s taking alone, Tomura gets the sense that something is very wrong. But Uchiha has never offered an explanation.

Boss-level dungeon indeed.

Kurogiri sets a half-filled glass of wine in front of Uchiha and lingers after the latter has picked it up. “Will that be all?”

Uchiha nods his thanks, and Kurogiri goes back to his business. He catches Tomura’s gaze as he does, though, concern in the narrow yellow slits of his eyes.  _Something’s wrong,_ he seems to echo Tomura’s thoughts. That clash with Muscular just now seems to taken more out of their comrade than it should have.

But they can’t do anything about it. Uchiha’s business is his alone. There’s no reason for them to pry, they can’t risk crossing any lines, since he’s one of the best secret weapons they have. Unlike most of them, Uchiha can’t move around freely; he’s far too high profile. With distinctive genetics and that reputation for mass murder, he attracts a lot of attention. But it’s that very reputation, which is 100% accurate, that makes him a powerful trump card, just ready and waiting to be played at the opportune moment.

Which… is not now. Not with the Vanguard Action Squad. Tomura decides that in this very moment. Then he leans forward, regaining his second-in-command’s attention.

“Kurogiri,” he mutters, tapping his fingertips against the bar top absently. “I think I’ve decided who will be going after Bakugou Katsuki.”


End file.
